page_title: Ernest MacMillan
section_title: Internment in Germany (1914–1919)
hierarchical_section_title: Ernest MacMillan / Biography / Internment in Germany (1914–1919)
caption_attribution_description: Painting of a gala performance of The Mikado at the the British Civilian POW Camp, Ruhleben, Germany. The image shows a concert in progress within a large room. The conductor is the only standing figure, raising his arms in front of the orchestra, visible in the right foreground. A large seated audience looks on; coloured oriental lanterns hang between narrow pillars, high up towards the ceiling. This was one of hundreds of musical performances that took place at the Ruhleben internment camp near Berlin, Germany, during the First World War. This Mikado was only possible because musicians at the camp were able to reconstruct the score from memory." (see MacMillan, Sir Ernest (1997). MacMillan on music: essays on music, Carl Morey (ed.) pp. 25–27, Dundurn Press ISBN 1-55002-2857)
context_page_description: Sir Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan, CC was a Canadian orchestral conductor, composer, organist, and Canada's only "Musical Knight". He is widely regarded as being Canada's pre-eminent musician, from the 1920s through the 1950s. His contributions to the development of music in Canada were sustained and varied, as conductor, performer, composer, administrator, lecturer, adjudicator, writer, humourist, and statesman.
context_section_description: MacMillan traveled to Paris in the spring of 1914 and began to study piano privately with Thérèse Chaigneau. He was visiting Bayreuth, Germany, to attend performances of the Bayreuth Festival, when the First World War began in August, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on June 28. MacMillan was initially detained by the German Police, and then imprisoned as an enemy alien, as Canada had declared war on Imperial Germany on August 5. MacMillan was subsequently interned for the duration of the War at Ruhleben, a British civilian detention camp, located on the site of a former horse racing track, on the outskirts of Berlin. During this period, he became a prominent member of the Ruhleben Musical Society and directed performances of The Mikado (with orchestra) and a pantomime version of Cinderella.  MacMillan transcribed the music for the former from memory with the help of four other musicians, including Benjamin Dale. Among those attending these performances was James W. Gerard, the United States Ambassador to Germany. MacMillan was also a member of the Ruhleben Drama Society and acted in productions of  Othello, Twelfth Night, and The Importance of Being Earnest.  MacMillan gave lectures on each of the nine symphonies of Beethoven; at the end of each lecture, MacMillan and Dale would perform a four hand piano arrangement of the symphony under discussion. MacMillan was later interviewed about his experiences as an internee at Ruhleben, as part of a series of CBC interviews with Canadian First World War veterans.
caption: Gala performance of The Mikado at the Ruhleben internment camp
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